A dog dropped off at a PetSmart has become the third to die at one of the stores in New Jersey in less than five months.Chuck Crawford tells NJ.com he dropped off his two corgis, Abby and Harley, at the Toms River PetSmart for grooming March 29. He says he got a phone call about an hour later saying he needed to pick up Abby’s carcass from a different store. "It was a 20-second phone call. It was so crude and beyond comprehension," Crawford said. "To take your pet for a grooming, and then have them die? That is the absolute worst thing."Crawford says he has “extreme anger and extreme grief,” and he doesn’t know what happened to Abby. "I went through absolute hell that day. She's my little sweetheart," he said. PetSmart says the dog’s death is under an internal investigation and explained why Abby was taken to a different store."When Abby became unresponsive, our associates took her to a neighboring PetSmart store with an in-store veterinarian," PetSmart said in the statement. "We are deeply saddened by Abby's passing and we are in constant contact with her pet parent during this very difficult time."Crawford has taken Abby's body to a lab to have a necropsy - an autopsy for animals - performed, in the hope it will shed light on what happened to her."I'll never take my dog to a PetSmart or PetCo or any of them ever again," Crawford said. "I'll give them a bath in my garage."One woman’s bulldog died during an appointment at a Flemington PetSmart on Dec. 29. Another woman lost her pet Dec. 24 at the same store.PetSmart expressed sympathy after the deaths and said they were unrelated.

TOMS RIVER, N.J. —

A dog dropped off at a PetSmart has become the third to die at one of the stores in New Jersey in less than five months.

Chuck Crawford tells NJ.com he dropped off his two corgis, Abby and Harley, at the Toms River PetSmart for grooming March 29. He says he got a phone call about an hour later saying he needed to pick up Abby’s carcass from a different store.

Advertisement

"It was a 20-second phone call. It was so crude and beyond comprehension," Crawford said. "To take your pet for a grooming, and then have them die? That is the absolute worst thing."

Crawford says he has “extreme anger and extreme grief,” and he doesn’t know what happened to Abby.

"I went through absolute hell that day. She's my little sweetheart," he said.

PetSmart says the dog’s death is under an internal investigation and explained why Abby was taken to a different store.

"When Abby became unresponsive, our associates took her to a neighboring PetSmart store with an in-store veterinarian," PetSmart said in the statement. "We are deeply saddened by Abby's passing and we are in constant contact with her pet parent during this very difficult time."

Crawford has taken Abby's body to a lab to have a necropsy - an autopsy for animals - performed, in the hope it will shed light on what happened to her.

"I'll never take my dog to a PetSmart or PetCo or any of them ever again," Crawford said. "I'll give them a bath in my garage."

One woman’s bulldog died during an appointment at a Flemington PetSmart on Dec. 29. Another woman lost her pet Dec. 24 at the same store.

PetSmart expressed sympathy after the deaths and said they were unrelated.